Importance

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Abstract

A fluid flow check valve assembly having a tubular valve housing with opposite inlet and outlet end portions and a movable valve member therebetween. The valve member has an end sealing portion engageable with an inlet seating portion of the housing and a flexible annular lip seal portion engageable with the inner wall of the housing. When the assembly is in a first pre-assembly condition which exists prior to insertion of the end of a mating outlet tube into the housing, the valve member assumes a mid-portion in the housing spaced away from the inlet seating portion. In this pre-assembled condition, the valve member's lip seal portion is seated against the inner wall of the housing thereby blocking fluid flow through the check valve assembly. The insertion of an outlet tube into the housing moves the valve member from the preassembly mid-position toward the inlet end of the housing and into a second one-way controlled flow condition. In the second condition, the valve member's end valve portion engages the inlet seating portion and the lip seal is biased inwardly away from the housing wall by convolutions or flutes formed in the end of the housing. The seating of the end valve portion against the inlet seating portion prevents fluid flow until the fluid inlet pressure increases sufficiently to unseat the end valve portion.

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First Claim